Transfer Rumours Summer Transfer window

Same, still hope he stays with us but also feel he might be best to move on for his own career. Could easily see him becoming 6th choice CM here

 

Yep.

I’d say Rigg sails past him by Christmas and Sadiki looks like he’s gonna find his feet quickly.

Starting 3 is clear as day.

Also, thought Talbi was Taibi. Every days a school day…

 

I think Neil still has a part to play so hope he stays, needs sorted asap. Wonder if he feels a bit humiliated going from captain and mainstay to essentially sub

 

Strange, to me, how supporters seem to love calling players out as 'sicknotes' tbh ...

... while at the same time simultaneously blaming the coaches for the injuries.

Ballard, for example, had a bad injury playing for Swindon, then broke his foot when he first came here, can't really blame the club for that.

He's a big lad, playing at the coal face and faced endless lumpy attackers in L1 and the Championship.

He may never be injured again and I doubt the club would continue to develop him if they thought there was any kind of problem, too expensive to carry passengers.

I assume Spurs have elite PL coaches and medical staff yet they've just lost James Maddison ACL, for the entire season, after a friendly ...

... sometimes it's just a matter of bad luck.

 

I rate Ballard. Just couldn’t imagine him playing more than 2/3s of games.

 

Ballard’s great but at times is so competitive he’s a bit reckless. His biggest strength is the biggest cause of his injuries. He just needs to take 5% off but it’s also what we love about him and it got us promoted.

 

The issus is his contract tho, if he's not signing one or is holding out then the club has to move on

He can be gutted about being 'dropped' but that's when I want to see players work even harder to get back into the plans

I do hope he stays and fights for his place, id love to see him start regularly but I just feel he's probably 5th choice now and Rigg will likely pass him once he's back fit

 

To be honest I’m surprised they haven’t already. They’ve been more patient with him than I would be. Unless he’s threatening to see his contract through and go free but I doubt it. If he’s expecting a massive wage from us there’s a chance he wants it from others and that might limit who goes for him.

 

It would be wonderful to see Neil fight for a starting place in the PL ...

... sadly it's not the skill he's lacking, it's the fight imo.

Le Fée is wonderfully skilful but the way he allowed himself to be 'skittled', by Sheff Utd' at the end of the Wembley game, really said a lot for me.

 

Let's not forget about luke o9 btw. If he's fit after his injury I think he might surprise a lot of people

 

The conrract is a 2 way thing. The club should only offer what they feel he is worth. Dan should only accept what he feels he is worth. You should never undersell yourself if life, not matter your career. Either they get round a table and compromise or they find a sensible way to part ways. Soon as well for me, already dragged on.

One of the things I dislike about the current game is how cluba seem incentivised to sell home grown players for PSR purposes. I keep reading the phrase pure profit and it makes my skin crawl tbh. It is not beyond the realms of possibility clubs will low ball homegrown players because it makes them attractive sales. It is a really skewed model.

 

Personally find the whole Neil thing really sad. Whether you rate him or not, he's a young man who has devoted his life to the club. Will have dreamt his whole life about playing with Sunderland in prem league. Now he's got an agent and money is involved and it's difficult. He's seeing players come in on massive money and is it any wonder he's a bit confused or concerned. It's not as straightforward as saying he's being greedy etc. Nobody really knows the dynamics and conversations going on. I really hope he settles down, gets his head right and signs the contract. He will get his chance. I think he's a very talented boy

 

They've likely already sat around the table and discussed the best solution for all

Suppose we will find out 1 way or another in the next few weeks

 

Bit of humour from one of them up the road.

 

They said he likely would

 

Yeah mate, how I see it as well. Given his heart and soul for us. Not always perfect on the pitch, but never less than all he has got imo. I hope he has no regrets at the end if his career about this decision. He deserves his place in our history.

 

I honestly want him to. I can’t think of another player who deserves a shot at the top league more than him.

 

100% still has a big role to play at this club, imo.

 

With masuaku did they release him or did he turn down a new deal? Seems he done well there

 

You're right, I keep seeing people say that then give their opinion on what's being said, I do the same

To be fair he didn't seem to want to sign a contract when we were fighting for promotion and he may have painted himself into a corner now we're in the PL. It may have taken him by surprise that the likes of Xhaka have come in but that’s the reality and he’ll have to accept that.

I know people don’t like us to ‘cash in’ on home grown players but that hasn’t happened here in my opinion …

… I think his value actually dropped once we were promoted.